


My Precious Hope

by Akiras_Talking_Cat



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Confused Naegi Makoto, Eventual Smut, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Hajime and Chiaki become more important later, Kidnapping, Komaeda Nagito Is Obsessed With Hope, M/M, Memory Loss, Minor Character Death, Obsession, One-Sided Attraction, Pet Names, Plans For The Future, Stalking, Yandere Komaeda Nagito, hopefully
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:09:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23143696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiras_Talking_Cat/pseuds/Akiras_Talking_Cat
Summary: Makoto Naegi was never all that special. He didn't have a cool talent, personality, or anything really. Who would expect him of all people to be stalked? There was nothing much to look at. His only redeeming quality was that he never gave up hope. His hope followed him wherever he went, free for others to take and still have plenty to go around. It was so amazing that Nagito Komaeda noticed him. They weren't even in the same grade yet Nagito became completely obsessed with the boy. Makoto's beautiful hope, he needed it for himself.
Relationships: Komaeda Nagito/Naegi Makoto
Comments: 83
Kudos: 350





	1. Just a small intro

Makoto Naegi, a Second-year at Hopes Peak Academy, was having a rather peaceful afternoon. He walked from school to a café to eat donuts with his good friend Asahina. They occasionally went there after school if neither of them had any plans or were simply hungry at the moment.

"It's so nice to just sit and talk with you Makoto! Especially when there's donuts!" She said as she took a bite of her chocolate donut with rainbow sprinkles. Naegi took a sip of his chocolate milk as he nodded with a smile.

The two sat near a window and talked about many random topics that would eventually confuse them on why they were arguing about whether ants or worms are better.

Naegi turned his head to glance out the window only to lock eyes with a pale boy with fluffy white hair and a green jacket. It was always awkward to lock eyes with strangers, so Naegi quickly whipped his head back to stare at his drink in embarrassment.

Even though Naegi quickly broke eye contact, the boy was still looking at him through the window as if trying to figure out a difficult puzzle. "Hope," he said as he turned to walk into the café.

Nagito Komaeda walked into the café for a few reasons. One, he didn't want to keep looking into that window and appear creepy. Two, it would be much easier to feel the faint hope from Naegi in the building instead of outside. Three, Komaeda felt like listening in on the conversation. A few minutes would be good for him.

Okay, maybe a few more minutes was an understatement. I mean, how could Komaeda just leave when he's so close to the ultimate hope himself. Plus, it gave Komaeda time to whip out his hopebook and write down Naegi's order. He thought would come in handy one day.

His hopebook was full of different things centered around Naegi. Mostly pictures or facts about him. Of course it filled up quickly so Komaeda knew he had to get another one soon. Komaeda watched Naegi eat as he happily talked with his friend. Oh how Komaeda wished that was him, sitting with Naegi as they chatted about who knows what. Then again, trash like him shouldn't even be coming within 10 feet of the ultimate hope. Life was very contradictory.

Soon, Naegi and Asahina got up to leave the café with Komaeda close behind. They said their goodbyes, then headed off in different directions with Komaeda secretly following Naegi to his house. 

The next day was torture. Komaeda hadn't seen Naegi at all! It was like they were two magnets pushing away from each other instead of closer together. It just wasn't fair. Near the end of the day, he casually stood near the window of his classroom. He wasn't looking for anything specific, just silently hoping to get a glimpse of Naegi outside. Lucky for him Naegi's class had a baseball unit so they were all outside playing.

Komaeda giggled as he saw Naegi fall flat on his face when he tried to catch the ball. He was still smiling and laughing, staying positive even when he may have gotten hurt. That was pretty hopeful not gonna lie.

What was the class talking about? Komaeda had no clue. He was too busy watching Naegi spread his beautiful hope to his teammates. "Class is going to start in three minutes, I would appreciate it if you guys could gather your stuff and sit down." The teacher said.

As the class took their seats, Soda came up to Komaeda with a confused face. "Yo Komaeda what's up with you? You've been staring out that window pretty, uh, intensely… class starts in like two minutes"  
Komaeda didn't bother to turn and look at Soda. "Hah, it's nothing really." Komaeda said as he kept on staring out the window. 

"Uh, okay whatever." Soda said as he walked to his seat. As soon as Komaeda reluctantly turned away from the window to sit in his seat, someone with a high pitched voice shrieked and shocked the entire class.

Komaeda felt something hard smack his head. It hurt a bit, he assumed he was bleeding. When his body hit the floor, he felt the little glass shards from the window poking his back. He wanted to get up, but he already felt his eyes closing. He saw people running around and screaming, but there really wasn't much to be screaming about. It made his ears hurt to hear all the loud noises. Maybe falling asleep was the better thing to do in this situation.

"Everybody get away from the glass, Tsumiki and Hinata take Komaeda to the infirmary and quickly!"

"Y-Yes Sensei!!!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes aren't working for me sooooo yeah


	2. Oop that's gotta hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Komaeda finds out what happened to him.

"Um… Is he going to be okay?" "D-Don't worry, I'll make sure to have everything un-un-under control.."

Komaeda opened his eyes to see a bright light blinding him. He could hear voices in the room, but he couldn't exactly focus on just one. All he could hear were bits of a conversation here and there while his eyes struggled to focus.

"Mikan, he's awake!"

Once Komaeda adjusted to the light he was met with light brown eyes. They were quite round with a greenish tint to them. Slowly he came to the realization he was staring up at the ultimate hope himself.

"Ah! I-I'll be r-right there!"

Tsumiki ran to the bed Komaeda was laying on and looked at him with a worried smile. "H-How are you feeling?"

Komaeda laughed. "Don't worry about trash like me! It's only my bad luck getting in the way!" Naegi looked at Komaeda with a look of both confusion and concern. "Why are you comparing yourself to trash? Nobody is trash. Even from just talking to you for a few seconds I can already tell that you're an amazing person! And I'm sure you'll be perfectly fine as well."

This isn't right. How could Naegi be here? He doesn't have anything to do with Komaeda, so it made no sense for the younger boy to be staring at him. But that's besides the point, Naegi's hope was shining brighter than he had expected and Komaeda loved every second of it.

"Hey, are you okay?" Komaeda looked across the room to see a boy with messy red hair walking towards him. He seemed like he was talking to Hinata beforehand.

"Look, I wanted to say sorry for hitting you in the head. I wouldn't normally hit so far but what can I say, it was a complete accident. The teacher finally let me bat once for the losing team so I got a little excited. Really sorry about that. Are you good? No major injuries or anything?"

Komaeda looked at the red haired boy and recognized him. He was Leon Kuwata, the ultimate baseball star. He was in the same class as Naegi. He had seen him a few times along with the other ultimates, but didn't know all that much about him on a personal level.

"Oh, so that's what happened huh. That's okay! Don't worry about it, I don't matter all that much anyway!" Komaeda smiled while Leon looked at him with concern written all over his face. "Uh, are you sure dude? It seemed like it hurt pretty badly if it knocked you out."

"Trust me, I don't mind! As long as you ultimates get to better your talents I'm more than glad to be a stepping stone! It's my pleasure!"

It was true. Komaeda only wanted the ultimates to spread hope, a worthless piece of garbage like him didn't matter. Hinata rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed. He never really liked it when Komaeda would put himself down or talk about all his hope nonsense. He believed it scared people away.

"U-Um," Mikan looked as though she was on the verge of tears. "You should be good to leave now, Komaeda-kun. I bandaged your head and tried to do my best to fix up any cuts you got on your back f-from the shattered glass.. I hope I helped!!" 

Komaeda got up from the bed and had a small headache. Instead of bothering more people he decided to ignore it. "Thank you Tsumiki-san." Komaeda said as he began to scan the room for his hoodie.

Naegi looked down before letting out a small "Oh!" Komaeda turned to see Naegi taking off his hoodie. "Um, do you want to take my hoodie? Yours is kind of covered in blood at the moment.. I just thought I'd be best for you to take mine! It may be a bit small though.."

Komaeda slowly reached out to grab Naegi's hoodie before reluctantly pulling his hands back. "No no, I shouldn't. I can't. It's yours after all! As the ultimate hope hoodie it is a sacred item to scums like myself!! I'll be fine without one."

Naegi looked down at his hoodie as he struggled to find the right words to say. "That's… that's wrong! You don't have to take my hoodie and I completely understand if you don't want to, but it's not fair to call yourself a scum. I don't think you are, so you shouldn't think so either."

Naegi seemed to be completely serious about giving him the hoodie, but Komaeda still refused. He doesn't deserve to get anything, especially since he ruined their baseball game. He was just the worst.

Both him and Hinata silently walked out of the infirmary after saying thank you to Tsumiki and stuffing the now bloody jacket in Komaeda's bag. It was lunch time at that point so the two trotted towards the cafeteria. Before they got very far Hinata felt a tap on his shoulder.

Turning around, he saw Nanami with a tiny smile. "Oh Chiaki! How did you get here?"

Nanami yawned as she grabbed the straps on her backpack. "Teruteru made food for the class. We're all eating in the classroom so I was tasked with finding you two."

With that being said, the trio headed upstairs and to the classroom. Opening the door led to seeing everyone happily talking and eating various foods that Hanamura whipped up for them. Hinata wondered how he made so much when they were gone, but he didn't question it out loud.

Komaeda got a small portion of food before going to the far corner away from most of his class. He ate his food in peace while he watched his classmates in silence. Hinata and Chiaki sat somewhat near him, but basically just talked amongst themselves.

The rest of the day was normal. Classes went on for what seemed like forever until finally the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. The class packed all their stuff before rushing out the door to get home.

Komaeda walked over to Hinata like he would any other day. "Oh I'm gonna play a few rounds of Smash Ultimate with Chiaki then head home so you can go on by yourself." Hinata said as he packed his stuff, not looking at Komaeda once.

"That's okay! Do whatever!" Komaeda said with a smile before heading out the door. He didn't mind walking home alone, if anything it gave him a reason to make a small detour on his way. Besides, it wasn't like anybody was waiting at home for him.


	3. Chocolate Chip Cookies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The misadventures of Makoto Naegi leave him alone and confused

Makoto Naegi was a fairly basic person. There wasn't anything that made him all too special. He always viewed himself as boring, not really standing out compared to his classmates. But despite his looks, his personality was always shining brightly.

Naegi could basically meet the worst person on the planet and still have at least one good thing to say about them whether they deserve it or not.

Of course, with this quality of being so optimistic, Naegi trusts people quite easily. He thinks that nobody is a specifically "bad" person. Everyone isn't perfect after all. With that being said, Naegi does have a bit of so-called enemies. Of course there are some people who don't like him and ridicule him for various reasons, but he believes it's all just a part of life. He screws up all the time so why judge people on their screw ups right?

"Hey Komaru?" Naegi said as he walked in his sister's room. Her room was quite aesthetically pleasing, it almost looked like if a personal designer decorated her room. There were lots of pale greens and whites with a few plants and fairy lights. Naegi liked it quite a bit, it felt clean save for the mess all over her floor.

"Makoto, welcome home! What's in the bag!?" Komaru looked up from her phone and smiled at her brother.

"Do you want to make cookies with me? I got these chocolate chips from the store and I know how much you've been wanting cookies!" As soon as Naegi showed her the bag of chocolate chips her face lit up. She jumped up from her bed and started to run down the stairs, Naegi attempting to catch up only to fall down the stairs with a small screech.

Once they started to get the ingredients from the kitchen Komaru turned to Naegi with a pout. 

"Makoto you idiot we don't have butter!" Komaru shouted. Naegi looked in the fridge for a bit and realized Komaru was right. 

"Cookies without butter really aren't cookies at all.." Naegi sighed.

Naegi decided to head to the store a few blocks away to retrieve the butter they needed. Komaru didn't want to walk so she went back to her room and left the shopping to her brother. Naegi knew he needed to go quickly, Komaru could get quite impatient especially when she's hungry.

As he was walking down the street he couldn't shake a weird feeling. He almost wanted to go back to his house but decided against it knowing Komaru wouldn't be happy with him. It was just an odd feeling, nothing too out of the ordinary.

"Makotoooooo How's it going, my mini hazelnut hope?! You look like you're in a hurry!"

Naegi heard a girl's voice shouting from behind him, turning to see his classmate Junko Enoshima walking up to him. She was wearing a flashy black crop top with fishnet stockings and short shorts. Her hot pink jacket looked quite expensive as well as her sunglasses.

"J-Junko! Um, I'm well! How are you?" He never really understood how outgoing she could be but it wasn't like he didn't like her or anything.

Enoshima took a sip of her Starbucks before starting to talk about her day while walking. Naegi had no choice but to walk with her, listening as she went on and on. He knew he needed to head to the store but he didn't have the guts to cut her off and tell her he needed to go.

"So yeah basically Mukuro ruined my whole day! God she's just the fucking worst! Oh would you look at that! I'm at my destination, I gotta go boo! I'll see ya at school Makoto! Don't get run over on the way home okay?!" Enoshima quickly waved before heading into a salon, most likely getting her hair done or something fancy.

Naegi stood in front of the salon for a bit before turning back around to head to the store. That's when he realized he had no clue where he was. He came from that direction right? Did they turn left or right? How far did they walk? 

Naegi decided to use the jps on his phone to find his way back. That was when he realized his phone wasn't in his pocket, he only had his wallet.

"Just my luck.." Naegi mumbled.

Naegi still had to get butter and make it home before the sun set while seemingly having no idea where he was going. Did he panic? Of course he did.

"How am I supposed to contact Komaru? What if I don't make it back home?! No, relax Makoto. You can do this, just think about where you came from and you'll be fine!" Naegi gave himself a small pep talk before puffing out his chest and starting his journey back to the store.

Naegi knew he couldn't be that lost, it wasn't like Junko was talking for hours or anything. He walked the direction they came from while looking for anything that looked familiar. He saw that sign right? Or did he see that park? What about that store? No, that one looks familiar.. But he swore he passed that instead.. Or maybe this way?

"Oh forget it!" Naegi shouted to himself. He needed to ask for someone's directions if he wanted to get anywhere. Naegi looked around for someone friendly looking to at least point him in the right direction. He spotted a boy who looked about his age with fluffy blonde hair and purple eyes. He was short just like him so at least he won't be intimidated by his height.

As Naegi approached them he became just a bit nervous. He didn't want to bother anyone but he really did need to find his way home.

"Umm, e-excuse me?"

The blonde haired boy turned to look at Naegi with a small smile.

"Is they're anything you need?" The boy asked. Naegi was overcome with relief that the person wasn't creepy or weird in any way.

Naegi explained to this stranger his small predicament and if he could point him in the right direction. The stranger complied with a smile saying he'd be happy to help. He told Naegi the directions to the store and even wrote them down in case he forgot. 

"Thank you so much!" Naegi said as he started to walk away.

"It was my pleasure. I'm glad I was able to help!" The stranger said as he walked the other way. Naegi knew he had to hurry up, the sun had already started to set. 

He ran towards the store, luckily being able to find it fairly quickly since he finally knew where he was going. Rushing into the store, Naegi quickly grabbed butter and an apology bag of M&M's for his sister. He paid and then raced back home, tripping over a rock at one point.

"I-I'm home!!" Naegi yelled as he closed the door behind him. He slipped on his house slippers before walking up the stairs to give the M&M's to Komaru.

"Komaru?"

Naegi didn't hear a response. As he opened the door to her room she was nowhere to be found. He checked every room in the house but couldn't find her. He got his phone from the kitchen and decided to text her to find out where she was.


	4. You're not Alone :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where the heck could Komaru be? Who knows! ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Oh yeah just a fyi I update pretty slowly so I'm really sorry about that! Long chapters are a bit hard for me that's all! T^T

Naegi trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen. He walked to the counter he had left his phone on and saw a single notification. A random number had apparently texted him while he was gone.

My sweet Naegi-Kun, nobody will get in the way of our love. Your hope outshines the sun, it's not made for greedy worms like them. Don't worry they'll be gone in a bit. You'll be safe. I'll see you soon :)

Naegi stared at his phone screen in confusion, rereading the message again and again. Did this have to do with Komaru's disappearance? Is she okay? What do they mean by gone? Who is this? Questions filled Naegi's head as he started to get worried. He immediately called Komaru, praying she would pick up. He heard her phone going off upstairs.

As he was about to hang up, someone answered her phone. He heard nothing from the other side.

Rushing upstairs, he burst Komaru's door open. Nobody was there. Komaru's phone layed on her desk, the call still going. Naegi shook in fear as he tried to make sense of this.

"I-If anybody is here come out now! Komaru I swear if you're pranking me this isn't funny!"

No response.

"Game's over Komaru, come out!" Naegi walked to her phone and ended the call. He began to search her room, hoping she would pop out somewhere. To his disappointment there was no sign of her.

After searching the whole house he had concluded Komaru was missing. He called all of his friends and even her friends but nobody knew where she was. Naegi panicked, confused on what to do. Kirigiri told him to call the police so he did. 

Once they showed up they investigated the house. There was no evidence of a break in or anything of the sort, so the police said she could have ran away for some reason. Naegi refused to believe Komaru would just run away, so he started a search party to look for her.

Weeks passed and still there was no sign of Komaru. Her disappearance became fairly known and many people tried to help search for her.

Even though Naegi was devastated he still had a small bit of hope that Komaru could be found. Every day he would search as many places as he could think of to eventually find her. After a few months however, his hope started dwindling.

Naegi hated living alone. Not being able to see Komaru's shining smile when he came home was truly depressing. The house felt so quiet without her. At this point Naegi would enjoy any company, he just wanted someone to make the house less lonely. 

Little did he know someone was keeping him company at night. Once Naegi would fall asleep a certain someone would watch him and bask in the hope that radiated off him.

Using Komaru's house key, Komaeda quietly opened the front door. Walking towards the living room he saw a few papers scattered around. Naegi wasn't exactly the most organized person in the world but that was okay. Komaeda silently walked up the stairs and headed towards Naegi's room. He already had a small bit of drool as he felt Naegi's hope from outside the room. Komaeda prayed luck would be on his side as he swiftly walked into Naegi's room.

Naegi slept peacefully while cuddling a teddy bear he had got as a gift from an anonymous person. Apparently it was a gift to make him feel better about Komaru's disappearance. It was presented at his front door with a bouquet of hand picked four leaf clovers and a cinnamon roll sented candle. Naegi had lit the candle in the kitchen while placing the four leaf clovers in a tiny clay pot. He had hoped it would bring him some good luck.

When Komaeda saw Naegi snuggling the teddy bear his heart filled with joy. He knew Naegi would appreciate his gift, he even made sure the teddy bear was as soft as possible.

Komaeda stood next to Naegi's bed and stared at him as he slept. "Ah, you're so adorable my precious hope. Don't worry, it'll just be us soon. There are too many greedy people trying to take a piece of your hope. I'll protect you from them." Komaeda slowly caressed Naegi's face. "I don't deserve to be near you but I can't help myself. I'm just a piece of garbage compared to you. You're so soft, so angelic. I could watch you all night.."

For three hours Komaeda stayed by Naegi's side until he knew it was time to leave. He didn't want to part with his darling but he had to. Walking out of Naegi's house, Komaeda headed back to his home in the dark. That amount of good luck got back at him when he was chased by someone with a knife, but he made it back to his house eventually. 

The sun had started to come up like usual. Komaeda walked into his house and went to his room to write in his notebook and add to his Naegi shrine.

-Naegi-kun liked the presents I gave him! I never knew trash like myself could actually make him happy, but it seemed to work. When I went to watch over him his hope was shining brighter than usual, it felt amazing. I also took one of his hoodies. It's way too small for me, but it smells like him so I love it. I don't think I ever want to wash it!-

Knowing school was soon, Komaeda slowly got up from his chair and went to his kitchen. He hadn't eaten since last week but he was in a good mood so he toasted a bagel. It burnt, but Komaeda ate it anyway.


	5. If only

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~AN:Oooooookay yet another chapter after a month.. I'm so sorry for being so slow and the chapters aren't exactly super long! I'll probably stick to one chapter a month so stay tuned for August. Thank you for being patient with me!~

More time had passed since Komaru’s disappearance and things only seemed to get worse for Naegi. Sure his friends stayed by his side for a little while, but eventually everyone started to give up on looking for his sister. Naegi of course did his best to keep his spirits up, but even Kirigiri told him it was unlikely to randomly find her on the streets. Investigations lead nowhere and nobody really seemed to think they’d ever find her. 

That was, until one day investigators found the slightest bits that remained of her body.

Now, this case was.. let's call it interesting. Investigators concluded that her body had been incinerated along with the regular trash being burned. Her body had completely turned to ash, she must have been murdered quite some time ago. It was hard to find out what had exactly taken place which made finding the murderer very difficult. There was no evidence that could pin this on a specific person, there was so little evidence in fact that nobody could really tell if there even was a murderer.

Of course, you know who did it. It sucks that they don't huh? How upsetting. 

Naegi couldn’t believe it when he found out. He immediately broke down with nobody to comfort him. _This is all my fault. Everything’s all my fault._

_If only I had come home faster._

_If only I had taken her shopping with me._

_If only I didn’t forget my stupid phone._

_Maybe if I hadn’t got lost like the complete idiot I am she would still be alive. God why am I the worst? Why am I so unlucky? Ultimate luck? That’s complete bullshit. Everything’s my fault, it has to be._

Komaeda knew Naegi was drowning in despair. It was obvious how much Komaru’s death had affected him. He couldn’t wait to see the hope that would explode from Naegi to combat all the despair he was in. Komaeda could barely stand it.

Okay so maybe it was taking a little longer than Komaeda expected for the hope to shine, but he knew the Ultimate Hope couldn’t stay in despair much longer. Maybe Naegi simply needed a little change in environment. After all, living in a house surrounded by reminders of his dead sister must’ve been quite difficult. Luckily Komaeda could help with that.

There was a small problem though. He had the best luck with the Komaru murder, bad luck had to follow suit one day. But Komaeda had prepared for this. He had concluded that if Naegi experienced such bad luck of getting lost and having his sister murdered, then that should balance out his good luck of getting away with not only killing her but taking Naegi too!

This plan consisted of kidnapping- no, that's the wrong word for it.. happily whisking away sounds better! This plan consisted of happily whisking Naegi away to a cute little home somewhere far away from everyone else. Nobody would ever find them, no matter what bad luck came across Komaeda. That way Naegi could let his hope blossom with no greedy worms there to take it away. Komaeda would finally be able to properly enjoy Naegi and the hope that came with him. How to whisk him away was the big question. 

“You look tired.” Kirigiri observed as she sat with Naegi for lunch.

Naegi turned to her in surprise. “Oh, I do?” He let out a weak laugh. “It’s probably nothing, maybe I should sleep earlier then?” He smiled before turning back towards his food to pick at it some more. He didn’t feel like eating, he didn’t feel like doing anything really. Kirigiri ate her food in silence while occasionally glancing at Naegi in an attempt to figure out what exactly was wrong. Once lunch was over Naegi got up and threw away the food he didn’t eat. In class he swore he could fall asleep by how boring it was. Yet, he still smiled and laughed all the way through it like every other day. It was torture.

School dragged on for what seemed like forever most days, but to be honest there wasn't much to look forward to besides school so what was the point. 

At home Naegi didn't really do much. He kinda just cooked dinner for himself, ate it, maybe watched a movie or something, and then laid in his bed until he could sleep. He did acknowledge it was a pretty lame routine but hey it wasn’t like there was much he could do all alone. 

He often went on walks and avoided going straight home. He liked going to the park with a giant field to just sit around in. It was nice to sit in silence and just think, but he did get lonely sometimes. 

He’d see children playing with their siblings and think of when he played with Komaru at the playground when they were little. It hurt to think of her, but he knew he couldn’t get too sad over her in public. He would probably be called a cry baby.

This particular day was the slightest bit chilly, it felt quite nice for a walk. Naegi was heading to the park when he spotted someone who looked familiar. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he remembered seeing that soft white cloud of hair before. He was walking with two other people and when they got closer he realized one of those people was his good friend Hajime Hinata.

The boy with the fluffy hair was staring at Naegi with an extremely red face. Then it hit him, he had met this boy at the infirmary a few months ago. He was the one who had walked out with Hinata.

“Oh, how’s it going Naegi? I haven’t talked to you in a while.” Hinata said.

“Hello Hinata-kun! I’m doing well, how about you?” Naegi said with a smile. Hinata was sort of like an older brother to him, they got along pretty well. They didn't talk all too much but when they did it was fun.

“I’m doing just fine, thank you. I don’t think you’ve met Chiaki before.” He gestured towards a pink haired girl next to him who looked up for a few seconds before waving then going back to playing a game on her 3DS. “I’m Chiaki Nanami, the ultimate gamer.”

“It's nice to meet you! I’m Makoto Naegi, the ultimate luck.” He smiled as he turned to the white haired boy. “Ah, I think I remember you! You were in the infirmary right? I never did get your name! Tsumiki-san said it was something like.. Komaeda?”

Komaeda felt overjoyed that Naegi had remembered his name even though they barely interacted for five minutes. “I can’t believe such hope remembers complete trash like me. I’m Nagito Komaeda. We share the same ultimate, but yours is a thousand times better than mine hehe.” Hinata whacked Komaeda in the head and told him to stop being a creep.

“We have the same ultimate? I didn’t know that! It’s nice to meet you Komaeda-senpai.” Naegi said with a smile. Something about Komaeda unsettled him, but he couldn't quite tell what it was. Maybe it was his unnaturally wide grin, or how he looked as if he could faint any second.

Komaeda suddenly turned around and started to mutter to himself. "He called me Senpai? He called me Senpai! I don't deserve that title! How is he so cute? I want to reach out and touch his fluffy hair to make sure he's real. Was it both our luck that brought us together? Ah, the hope is overwhelming.."

"Nagito constantly talks about you. He said you were the ultimate hope or something." Nanami said without looking up from her game. 

Naegi was surprised by this statement, especially because he barely knew Komaeda. Why would he be talking about a boring old person like Naegi? Sure he was called the ultimate hope by some people, but that wasn't his true ultimate. Come to think of it, he had never even really had a proper conversation with this Komaeda fellow. 

"He does? Oh, well that's uh-- that's certainly flattering." Naegi couldn’t deny he was curious about the weird boy. He honestly kind of wanted to take Komaeda out for lunch or something of the sort to find out what exactly was so intriguing about him. On second thought, he had no clue what kind of person Komaeda was so it would probably be a little weird if it was just the two of them. 

“Stop it bimbo, your freaking Naegi out.” Hinata said as he smacked Komaeda on the head again before turning to Naegi like nothing happened. “We were just walking back from school, what brings you here? If I remember correctly your house is the other way.” 

“Oh, I just wanted to go on a small walk since the weather is nice and all. Now that I think about it where do you live? I've never seen your house.”

Hinata and Naegi continued to chat together for a bit with an occasional chime from Nanami. Komaeda however, remained silent and simply listened with a smile. They only talked for around fifteen minutes before saying their goodbyes and heading separate ways. Naegi was glad he was able to talk with Hinata and meet his friends. Nanami seemed like a really nice person, he was glad Hinata was friends with her. Komaeda was a bit weird but he too seemed pretty nice overall.

The park was right in front of him and surprisingly there weren't many people around. There were a few people walking by and an occasional child going down the slide, but it was empty for the most part. Walking to the field, Naegi thought about what exactly was so great about this place anyway.

Now it was just him, sitting on the damp grass watching the clouds move ever so slightly. Picking a flower from the grass, Naegi layed down and admired the beauty of nature. 

For once he didn’t feel sad, or tired, or negative in any way. He was calm. He was happy. He was full of hope.


	6. Who Are You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has come. Everything was ready, there was nothing stopping him now.
> 
> ~AN: Alright, another month another chapter! I felt like dragging this out longer, but I got lazy and my deadline was coming up soooooooooo here it is~

The sky slowly started to shift in color, cycling through its usual pattern of various shades like yellow and orange, eventually setting on a nice shade of purplish black. The stars weren’t very visible to be honest, but the park gave just enough seclusion to see a few bright ones. If he had the talent, Naegi would've loved to paint the beautiful sky. It just looked so captivating, surely someone with a talent related to art could make something astonishing with this view.

Before he knew it he was extremely tired. He almost fell asleep in the park, but that wouldn’t be all too safe now would it? He decided it was probably time to start heading home. Before he could get up however, someone with wild white hair approached him with a smile.

“Komaeda-senpai? What are you doing here?”

Komaeda stopped right in front of the small boy and waved. “Naegi-kun! I saw you sitting here so I came to ask why you're out so late. You know, it's really dangerous to be out at night. You wouldn’t want something bad to happen right?” 

Komaeda reached out a sweaty hand to help Naegi get up. The feeling of Naegi’s hand on his was the best thing in the universe. Well, he was sure they could do some.. other things that would feel even better, but for now this was more than enough. Even after Naegi got up the two continued to hold hands. Komaeda didn't even give the impression he was going to let go, while Naegi didn't have the heart to ask him to let go.

“You know, I was just sitting here for a bit! It was quite relaxing, but I suppose I should head home now.” Naegi nervously giggled as he attempted to show Komaeda a sign to let his hand go. Komaeda of course, didn't even register what was going on.

Today was the day.

It was almost too perfect.

“Ah, it's only going to get darker, how about I walk you home Naegi-kun?” Komaeda’s smile was unsettling to say the least. Naegi felt uneasy, but Komaeda was right. It was getting pretty dark. Still, something about him didn't sit right with Naegi. “That’s okay Senpai, I can make it home on my own. My house isn’t very far from here anyway!”

The deathly grip on his hand made Naegi just a bit worried. Tugging his hand away was no use. “Naegi-kun, you're so cute! Here, I’ll make things even easier for you.” Komaeda pulled something out of his pocket, it looked like a cloth of some sort. “Don’t worry, I’ll take us home. I just know you'll love what I have for you! Now I need you to just inhale this okay?”

Suddenly the cloth from Komaeda’s pocket was firmly pressed against Naegi’s face. It smelled weirdly sweet, with a splash of random chemical smell. Tears started forming in the corners of Naegi’s eyes as he heard Komaeda’s breathy laugh. “Ah, I can never get a break from your cuteness! Don’t worry honey, only a little longer until we can go home okay?”

After another minute or so Naegi felt his consciousness slipping away. His legs felt like noodles as he felt himself falling into Komaeda’s arms. He couldn’t believe what was happening, it didn’t feel real.

“There you go darling, just sleep. Awe, you’re too cute when you're tired.” Komaeda wanted to kiss those perfect lips, but he settled on placing a small kiss on his forehead. Holding the now unconscious Naegi tight, Komaeda began his long walk towards their new paradise.

Once he made it to their new house he immediately got to work to prepare Naegi for what was to come. His plan was to erase Naegi’s memories to the best of his ability to convince him that Komaeda was indeed his boyfriend. Tsumiki knew quite a lot about the medical field and all that jazz, so with a bit of bribery he was able to snag some chemicals and a syringe. Too much can cause amnesia, just what Komaeda wanted. Now all he had to do was inget Naegi and hope that luck would be on his side.

Morning came quickly as Naegi peacefully slept in a comfortable bed with Komaeda’s arms wrapped around his small figure. Komaeda never got much sleep but with Naegi cuddled up against him he couldn’t help but to doze off for a few hours.

Komaeda was a pretty light sleeper so as soon as he felt Naegi squirm he knew he would wake up soon. “Good morning darling.” Komaeda whispered so he wouldn’t scare him right away.

“Good morning..” Naegi said, still half asleep. He didn’t feel like getting up and the blanket wrapped around him was too comfortable to not fall asleep again. “How was your sleep?” Komaeda asked as he slowly played with the small boy’s hair.

Naegi smiled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “It was nice. I hope I didn’t sleep for too long. My head kind of.. hurts though...” His sentence slowly came to a stop as he realized he had no idea where he was. He didn’t even know who he was talking to. “W-Where am I? And who are you?!”

Komaeda wasn’t exactly the best actor, but he was confident in his acting abilities for the most part. “Sweetheart, what on earth do you mean? You're finally home. I know the hospital may have been a little overwhelming, I can’t even imagine having to sit there for so many days. Last night the doctors told me I could take you home, so I brought you to the new house we were planning on staying in. I got some people to finish it right away so that as soon as you got out you could be comfortable!”

“What? I.. I don’t remember any hospital. Who are you? W-Why don’t I remember you?” Komaeda tried to act just as confused as Naegi, going off about a whole little story on how Naegi made it to the hospital. He suddenly stopped talking as he acted like he had just realized something.

“Sunshine.. do you really not remember me? It's me, Nagito! Your boyfriend! Please at least remember me!! The doctors said you memory may be a bit hazy, but I didn't know it would be this bad.” Naegi remained confused, but Komaeda could tell he was warming up to the story. After all, Naegi was a very trusting person. 

“So.. you're telling me.. you are my boyfriend and I was in the hospital for 47 days? That doesn’t make sense though, why can’t I remember you?! I’m so sorry, you must be so heartbroken..”

Komaeda had tears in his eyes to make the story more believable. “Listen Makoto, I love you and you love me. I know things may seem a bit difficult right now, but the least you can do is stay with me alright? I promise everything will be okay. We’ll get through this together. I’m sure you'll fall in love with me all over again and we can live just like how we used to! Doesn’t that sound nice?”

Naegi felt guilt overflow his emotions. He didn’t wasn't his boyfriend to have to suffer just because of his stupid memory being jacked up. “I-It sounds lovely! Your name.. You said it was Nagito right?” Komaeda nodded as his smile grew wider and wider. He loved hearing his first name escape Naegi’s perfect lips. He was sure he had never heard it before, so he wanted to hear it thousands more times. It was like they were already so close!

“Okay Nagito. You said our house was finished, correct? I like the decorations, who chose them?” 

“I did! I mean, I had lots of help from you! Would you like to see the rest of the house? I know how excited you were to see it all done. Even if that excitement isn’t exactly there anymore.” 

Naegi’s head was spinning as he sat up. He noticed he had a shirt on that may or may not have been one too many sizes bigger than his normal size. He also had on some black shorts that seemed to fit him well. Komaeda noticed Naegi looking at his clothes and spoke up. “Oh, that’s simply what I got you into when we got home. I haven’t got the chance to move all your clothes here so I grabbed one of my shirts and a pair of your shorts for you to sleep in.” Komaeda seemed to have no problem with it, so Naegi dismissed the topic of wardrobe choices and fully got up to look around the room.

Komaeda noticed how uncomfortable Naegi seemed. He was playing with his hands quite a bit, something Komaeda knew he did when he was nervous. “Sunshine, are you alright? I'll do anything you want to make you feel more comfortable! How about we go to the kitchen and eat breakfast? I haven’t stocked up many things, but we do have bagels!”

Naegi nodded with a smile as Komaeda took his hand and led him downstairs. Naegi noticed Komaeda’s hand was quite cold compared to his own. It felt nice to be honest. Komaeda seemed to be a lovely person, and quite handsome as well. Although, one never can be too careful. If what Komaeda was saying ended up being true then that's great, but Naegi was terrified that this might not be true. What if something terrible has taken place but he just can’t seem to remember? There are many things that could’ve happened, but for now it seemed easiest to trust Komaeda and hope for the best.

Downstairs had a kitchen and living room, along with a bathroom and laundry room. Naegi assumed the second floor simply had a room or two and a bathroom, but Komaeda just took him downstairs.

Naegi sat down on the couch as Komaeda prepared the two breakfast. They talked a bit, but it was mostly awkward silence. As soon as the bagels were done Komaeda set them at the small dining table as Naegi came to sit down. Komaeda also provided Naegi with a cup of apple juice and some strawberries.

“Nagito, do I have any friends?” Naegi asked as he took a sip of his juice. “Friends? Oh, not really. You used to have a few friends but they were fake. They only wanted your hope, those greedy little worms. You cut ties with them a while ago.” 

“My hope?” Komaeda chuckled as Naegi sat there confused. “Ah, silly me. I didn’t tell you your ultimate. Although I assumed you’d remember at least something about yourself.”

“I-I remember my ultimate. I'm the ultimate luck right?”

“Nope. You're the ultimate hope, your previous title was luck. That’s why your friends used you. Your hope shines so bright, but they wanted a piece of it as well. I saved you from them, but I am nothing but a stepping stone. A pebble on your path. An insignificant speck of dust is what I am really.”

Komaeda was slipping down the slope of sanity with all this talk about hope. But for the first time Naegi was there to pull him back up. “You’re no speck of dust! You did all this for me, didn’t you? You stuck with me at the hospital and even brought me home to this lovely house. If you're my boyfriend then I must’ve chosen you for a reason. I don't think I would’ve dated a pebble.”

Komaeda's heart hurt and he felt as though his head would explode. Naegi was being so nice to him. He didn't deserve this in the slightest. “Don’t waste your compliments on me, I don’t deserve them. But there’s no use arguing, so it would be the best to drop this conversation.”

“I’ll drop the conversation as long as I get the last say in it. My last contribution to this topic is that you are in no way insignificant and you deserve all my compliments!” Naegi smiled as Komaeda knew he couldn’t say anything back or else the conversation would just turn into a meaningless argument.

“You win this time.”

Breakfast went well for the most part. Naegi asked many questions, Komaeda responded with many lies, and sooner or later they were both done with their food. Naegi insisted on washing the dishes, but Komaeda refused to let him do anything.

Both decided it would be fun to watch a movie together so Naegi’s worries would temporarily cease. Walking back upstairs, Naegi used the restroom while Komaeda went to another room to retrieve his laptop. When Naegi walked into the room he woke up in, he saw Komaeda gesturing him towards the bed with the laptop in his hands. Opening up Netflix, Komaeda let Naegi pick the movie as he sat with his hands folded in his lap.

Everything so far was going as planned. Naegi was a little sceptical, but nothing too out of the ordinary. It wasn’t like he knew he was being brainwashed or anything. Komaeda knew sooner or later his lie would blind Naegi from the real world. Then all the hope others tried to steal will be peacefully stored in their perfect little home.


	7. New Detective?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Has anyone seen Naegi? I really miss him :( Maybe Komaeda's a lil sus
> 
> AN: OMG I'M SO SORRY SEPTEMBERS ALMOST OVER AND I BARELY GOT THIS SHORT ASS CHAPTER OUT I'M SO SORRY I'LL DO BETTER NEXT MONTH I PROMISE PLZ FORGIVE ME AAH

Three weeks had already passed and for the most part everything was going better than expected. Naegi had warmed up to the whole situation and he seemed to accept it quite easily. Living with Komaeda was enjoyable, he started to get a general perception of what Komaeda was like. To be honest he was a bit obsessive and clingy, but that was nothing too bad. He just wants to keep Naegi safe that’s all. 

Naegi was completely isolated from the real world. His whole world revolved around Komaeda, his loving boyfriend. There wasn't really anything else Naegi needed.

"Has Naegi said anything to you guys?" Asahina asked as she played with the mechanical pencil on her desk. The class was worried for Naegi since he hadn't been coming to class in a while.

"Actually yes! I texted him this morning asking what was wrong and he responded for once."

Everyone quickly turned to Maizono, silently pleading for her to continue. "He told me everything was fine, he just went on a sudden trip with a friend and didn't have the opportunity to tell any of us. He suddenly had service so he quickly responded to me!"

Everyone huddled around her phone to find that Naegi did indeed respond to her. "Isn't it weird for Naegi to just skip school like that?" Kirigiri asked.

"I mean, we need to acknowledge the fact he recently lost his sister. Maybe he just needed a break from here."

"Yeah.. A-At least we know he wasn't totally ignoring us!"

The class was relieved, but Kirigiri was still skeptical. Something about the whole situation didn't feel right. She had a friend who could keep his eye on a student for her. This student, Nagito Komaeda, seemed obsessed with her best friend. 

"I met him a while back and made the conscious decision to never let Naegi near that creep. He was certainly fixated on him for some reason. He also babbled on and on about hope or something weird like that."

The boy she was talking to pulled the tip of his hat over his face as he spoke. "A-And you want me to look after him? I mean, he's a third year and my classroom is pretty far from his and I don't have many opportunities to bump into him and I-"

Kirigiri cut off the younger boy as she snatched his hat to shut him up. A small piece of his dark blue hair popped up as he frantically tried grabbing his hat back. "You'll do fine Saihara. I just need you to check up on him once and awhile, see if he's doing anything shady." Kirigiri placed the hat back on Saihara's head.

"I can do that. Y-Yeah. I'm perfectly capable. Totally. That's me. Mr. Detective. I can do this. Okay… G-Goodbye Kirigiri-san!" 

Kirigiri watched as Saihara quickly rushed out of the library. A small laugh escaped her lips as she turned back to her book she was reading. Saihara was a first year with the same ultimate as her. When they met he was a nervous wreck, and he still kind of is, but he was a good kid. Plus he was smart. All she needed was for him to check up on Komaeda once in a while since she's too busy.

_This sucks. This absolutely sucks. I suck. I'm not talented at all! How could she do this to me? Keep an eye on him? What am I supposed to do?? It’s not like Komaeda’s just going to appear out of nowhere! I have a life you know, I can’t be keeping my eye on this dude. I can barely keep my eye on anything!! Why did I ever agree to this? I’m so untalented, she could’ve chosen the ultimate idiot and they would've done 10 times better than me!!_

Saihara walked to his class while stressing over how he was going to go about this. He can’t just be waiting outside Komaeda’s classroom door, that’d be weird. Plus, he knew nothing about Komaeda except what Kirigiri told him.

For the rest of the day Saihara tried his best to keep an eye out for Komaeda. He figured he’d most likely find him in hallways when changing classes or something of the sort. To his dismay he didn’t end up seeing him at all. He was frustrated of course, but more or less just disappointed in himself for not doing his one job correctly.

By the end of the day Komaeda had already left the school, leaving Saihara to blindly search for him before heading home himself.

The walk from school to Komaeda's new home was extremely long. He'd usually take a bike or something to make it home faster, but the last time he did that he fell into a river and scrapped both his elbows. The walk didn't really bother him though. After all, the farther away Naegi was from everyone else the safer he was.

"I'm home." Komaeda said with a smile as he quickly shut the front door. Naegi came rushing downstairs and latched onto him with a giggle. His hugs were always so hopeful and adorable. "Welcome back! Today was going by so much slower than yesterday, I'm glad you're finally done with school."

The amount of happiness inside Naegi overwhelmed Komaeda like always. "I'm sorry sunshine, I should've left earlier. You must've felt lonely huh? I'm so sorry."

The two made their way to the kitchen as Komaeda smothered Naegi in small kisses and apologies. "It's okay, all that matters is that you're here now!" Naegi said in an attempt to get Komaeda to stop apologizing.

"I should just stop going to school altogether! Then I can spend every second of every day with you! That would make you happy right?!" Komaeda looked at Naegi with a smile that looked just a little too wide and almost creepy. "That's not necessary. Just because I'm here doesn't mean you shouldn't get an education. School is important!"

Komaeda thought about it before dismissing the topic all together. He probably was going to quit school, but for now he'll just take tomorrow off so he could spend a full day with his perfect boyfriend. "Well, let's just focus on dinner prep okay?"

The next hour they spent chopping vegetables and chatting about whatever came to mind. Komaeda didn't trust Naegi with a knife, but Naegi didn't trust him with a knife so they each decided to trust each other at least for a little bit. 

Their night was calming, they ate dinner and watched a movie before deciding to grab coloring books and see who can do the better coloring. (Naegi won) It was around 1am when Naegi started to fall asleep. "We should probably sleep now huh?"

"I wanna sleep right here.." Naegi was laying across the couch planning to fall asleep. "Fine, I guess I'll have to carry you upstairs!" Komaeda picked up Naegi with ease as he began to squirm.

"H-Hey! I can walk by myself!" Komaeda laughed as he trotted upstairs to get Naegi to bed.

AN: if you're confused about the canon or why Saihara is here please look at my comment. If you have questions feel free to ask!


	8. ~October Update Time~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not an actual chapter, I'm just going to be talking about the updates and stuff!  
> 👻🎃💀Happy Spooky Month💀🎃👻

Allllllright people! I have decided it is mandatory for me to update the previous chapters for some things may not make sense/have been changed/just wasn't good enough. You're not obligated to read the edited chapters, but if you hated them as much as me then hopefully the edited versions will be much better! You may be thinking, "Ven, does that mean no chapter for this month?" Answer: sadly, yes. I've been super busy with things like online to in person school, having anxiety attacks over possibly being sent to therapy, and other more normal things like going to buy groceries and making hello kitty cinnamon brownies. But, that doesn't mean I'm not working on the next chapter! I want to put out good quality stuff for you guys and prevent what had happened in September and rushing to get a chapter out. That's why I'm taking my time with this one while still trying to get something new-ish for October! For something to distract me from all this junk, tell me what you're going to be for Halloween this year! I will not promote trick-or-treating during a pandemic, but that doesnt mean you can't still dress up and buy lots of candy lmao What am I going to be? Well, Shuichi Saihara of course! My bff is gonna be Maki, so i decided to match and be best boy Succi👌 We'll just hang out and eat candy while we pull an all nighter and have a Halloween cosplay sleepover thing. Ooooh we'll probably play Smash Ultimate too! If you play tell me who's ur main?? I main Roy and Pit (plus Marth) I need to cosplay Pit one of these days lol Anyway I'm getting off topic, that's really it. I'll do chapters one at a time, so here is where I'll put what chapter I edited and when.

Monday, October 5th: Chapter 1

Sunday, October 11th: Chapter 2


	9. Poor Poor Hajime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saihara needs Hinata's help for his investigation. Hinata, well, sees some stuff he'd rather not.
> 
> AN: Could this chapter potentially make or break this? Yeah kinda. Hope you guys like Hajime for a little bit :)

"Have you- uh- have you seen Komaeda at all? I couldn't find him yesterday and I'm having an equal amount of trouble today.. I'm sorry." Saihara didn't like reporting empty handed, but it was all he could do. He had planned on avoiding Kirigiri's cold stare and hide from her, but she spotted him before he even had the chance.

Kirigiri looked down in thought as she pressed her fingers to her chin. "I haven't seen him at all today. I assume he didn't come to school. Hey, I want you to go talk to that Hajime Hinata guy. He's his best friend so he must know something."

No further instructions were given as Kirigiri calmly walked away from the dark haired boy. "B-But can I-" Saihara said. To his dismay, Kirigiri was too far away to hear him at this point. His sentence quickly deteriorated. "-Tell him.. about… the Naegi thing…?"

He was left to interpret that on his own. He assumed he had to keep quiet, but there was a pit in his stomach that told him that if he didn't get as much information as possible from Hinata he would get yelled at. Saihara stood and thought about what the right choice was. 

Tell Hinata about the Komaeda investigation and risk the chance of him alerting his pale friend? 

Or should he keep Hinata oblivious to what was going on and risk the chance of running into a dead end and getting in trouble with Kirigiri?

Plus Saihara needed to meet up with Akamatsu to help her practice for her upcoming show. He only had around twenty minutes to talk with Hinata before he had to leave for the music room.

Well, the first issue was going to be how to find Hinata in the first place. He already failed at finding Komaeda, so the least he could do is find Hinata. He decided to ask the most popular person he knew.

"Oh, looking for Hajime? To be honest, I was just talking to him actually! He was down the hall and to the left. He may have moved, but I hope I can at least lead you in the right direction."

Thank the gods for Amami's popularity!!

"Thank you so much Amami-kun." Saihara said as he quickly bowed before scurrying off in the direction he was pointed in. "Have a.. nice rest of your day. I guess.." Amami stood there and watched as Saihara sped away, a little upset at the fact that Saihara totally ignored him. Then again he does need to be somewhere so it's not really his fault.

He really shouldn't have been sprinting down the hallway, but at this point Saihara had just hoped that Hinata didn't wander too far. He still had the problem of deciding whether or not to tell him about the investigation… 

"You're Shuichi Saihara right? Did you need something?" Hinata said as Saihara took a second to catch his breath.  
"Oh, um, well I was wondering if you knew why Komaeda-kun wasn't in school today. I.. Need to ask him some questions.."

Hinata was a little confused, but nonetheless gave the explanation that Komaeda had texted him during lunch. Apparently he had slept in and was so late that he didn't even bother coming. "Is this behavior any bit unusual for someone of Komaeda-kun's nature?" Saihara asked, hoping that there would be at least something to report back to Kirigiri.

"Uh, I don't know. He hasn't skipped school before, but he does leave early sometimes… Actually, why do you even want to know? Aren't you like a detective or something? What did Nagito do now?"

Great. Hinata just had to ask the one question Saihara had been dreading this whole time. He had been told he wasn't a very good liar and honestly he pretty much agrees. Should he tell Hinata? He doesn't know what he would say if he didn't..

Taking a shaky breath, Saihara attempted to explain the situation. "You see, well, you know Makoto Naegi right?" Hinata nodded. "Well he's kind of missing at the moment.. But not like, confirmed missing or anything! Kirigiri suspects that things aren't what they appear to be. He texted Sayaka Maizono saying he was on a trip with a friend, but there's nobody that could possibly be with him. His message was also not in his texting style so she thinks somethings wrong." Hinata nodded again before speaking.

"And you're asking about Nagito because of his weird obsession, correct?" Wow, Hinata sure got things quickly! "I mean if you want I can call him and see what's going on. To be honest I have noticed that Nagito no longer walks with me after school. Maybe something is going on."

Before Saihara could ask any more questions he quickly checked the time on his phone. "Oh! I'm really really sorry but I kind of have to be somewhere which I know I'm super irresponsible and should've talked to you sooner but I have to go now oh god I'm sorry. Um, how about you talk to him today and tell me what you know tomorrow? If that works for you? Again I'm really sorry."

"I mean it's fine you don't have to apologize. I'll figure out what I can and then I'll talk with you tomorrow okay?" With both men agreeing to meet up before school tomorrow, Saihara frantically waddled to the music room as Hinata started his walk home. He didn't have much time to really think about the situation while talking with the blue haired boy, but on his small walk he had all the time in the world.

_Now thinking about it, Nagito hasn't been running his mouth about Naegi every two seconds anymore… Plus if Naegi really did just ditch school for a while wouldn't Nagito have mentioned something? I swear if he did something irrational I'm going to personally gun him down. Geez, he's too unpredictable for comfort. Now I'm just going to be thinking of all the things that could go wrong here. Stupid Nagito._

His walk seemed to go by slower than usual, but when he finally did settle into his home Hinata quickly whipped out his phone and dialed Komaeda's number. 

"Ah, Hajime! What a surprise, you never call me." His voice was as calm as ever, nothing suspicious there. Then again he's always suspicious so there really isn't a right answer. 

"Yeah, hi." Hinata said with underlying annoyance. "Where were you today? It's not like you to just skip school." Is it though?

"Hmm? Oh I'm just a bit sick that's all. A worthless scum like myself shouldn't risk the chance of getting you ultimates sick should I? I think I won't go to school this week."

"Well you sure don't sound very sick."

"Well Hajime I don't know if you know this or not but not every sickness is shown through people's voices. At the moment I actually have an excruciating pain in my stomach! What a bummer huh?"

This conversation wasn't getting Hinata any closer to knowing what's going on with Naegi. "It sure is. Hey, why don't I come over and drop off some medicine? Stomach pain shouldn't be contagious, plus I actually need your help with homework."

"So homework is why you called me? Wow Hajime, and here I thought you cared. Well I mean who would care about someone as trashy as me anyway?" 

"Hey it's not like that at all! Listen-"

"Who are you talking to?"

Hinata fell silent as he heard a small, quiet voice from the other end of the phone call. Could that be… Naegi? Hinata listened for more signs of that voice and there was no doubt Komaeda was now talking to someone else. He couldn't make out their conversation since the phone wasn't on speaker of course, but he heard a few little bits here and there mostly from Komaeda himself. 

"A frie_d th-ts all. Do I kn_w him? --houldn't talk righ_ now. --living room? --I'm sorr--"

Was that Naegi? Hinata could barely tell. Their conversation was quite short lived from what Hinata heard.

"I apologize Hajime. I actually have some stuff I need to take care of at the moment, but trust me there is no need to bring me medecine. I have everything I need with me. It was great talking with you but I should really be going before my head starts to hurt again."

"Hey hey hey wait hold on!! Who were you talking to just now?!"

"Nobody important. I assure you it was nothing. Now if you'll excuse me.." Komaeda had hung up on him. That bastard had completely ignored him!! He was hiding something that's for sure. Or someone more or less.

Hinata concluded that it must've been Naegi. Who else could it be? Grabbing his phone, Hinata dialed Naegi's number. If he picked up then he was fine. If he didn't then there must be something wrong. Naegi never missed any calls from Hinata.

.  
.  
.

Nothing. He didn't answer. Of course Komaeda had to go do something insane. What if he's keeping Naegi hostage? What if he's forcing himself on the poor boy and making him do gross "hope" things? What if Komaeda broke his ankles and is keeping him in his basement?? No no he's perfectly fine. Nothing is wrong, Hinata is just taking things too far. Besides, Komaeda doesn't even have a basement! Naegi is perfectly safe. With Komaeda. Which isn't exactly safe.

"Ugh!!" Hinata flopped on his bed. This was too weird to completely process. Maybe he's overreacting and Naegi really is just somewhere else far away from Komaeda. Maybe he was blowing this out of proportion. Yeah, that's better to think about.

Actually, why doesn't he just go to Komaeda's house? It would be easy to simply go over and act like he really did want homework help. Then he could find Naegi and save him from whatever weird situation he was in. That could work!

Hinata hastily put on shoes before locking his front door and sprinting towards Komaeda's house. It was way too far from his own house but he didn’t have a car so running was his only option. Hinata really wanted to believe that nothing was going on, but the Ultimate Detective himself suspects at least something so there's a likely chance something was horribly wrong. After around twenty minutes of running he ended up at the front of Komaeda's house. He took a moment to catch his breath as he observed the oddly quiet atmosphere. All the lights were off. Hinata could not hear any noises. With a shaky breath Hinata reached over to the doorbell.

Around five minutes of his time were spent patiently waiting in front of the door while occasionally ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door. Hinata began to grow a little annoyed at the fact that nobody was answering.

He couldn’t exactly open the door without a key. “Hey Nagito! Open the door before I kick it down myself!!” He shouted at the window. The window. Hinata stared at it for a solid ten seconds before realizing it was the slightest bit open. He could potentially commit no good and break into Komaeda’s house. It was for a good cause right? If Komaeda calls the police he’ll tell them about Naegi. He won't get arrested right? Besides, why would Komaeda call the cops on his best friend? He wouldn’t do that. Maybe if Hinata promises not to call the cops on Komaeda they’ll be even. Yeah.

Hinata spent a fair amount of time struggling to pry open the window. After about five sticks breaking he finally got the window to open a little more. He was able to squeeze his fingers through the small crack at the bottom and lift the window before sticking his head through. Maybe he should’ve gone feet first now thinking about it. If anybody were to walk by they'd just see some random high schooler half way through a window with his legs flailing about.

After successfully worming his way through Komaeda’s window, Hinata got up from the floor he fell head first onto. Komaeda’s house was pretty clean like always, but it did seem unusually quiet. To be fair Komaeda certainly wasn't loud and hated loud noises, but it was a little too quiet for comfort. Plus all the lights were off.

Shouting for Komaeda, Hinata quickly concluded that he was the only person in this house.

Hinata had only been to Komaeda’s house a handful of times so he really didn’t know what the layout was all too well. The house was pretty fancy with three floors and lots of space. 90% of the house was empty though. Komaeda had barely any furniture and spent most of his time in his room. His room was on the third floor so Hinata decided to search the first floor and then make his way up.

There was nothing strange in the kitchen or living room. The office near the front of the house was a little weird though. It was decorated with those white mom signs you’d find at Target or something. You know, the ones with phrases like “Live, Laugh Love,” or “Don’t let anyone dull your sparkle” and stuff? All of them had some form of the word “hope” in an atrocious font and an occasional cringy phrase. Almost as if Komaeda simply bought anything with the word hope on it. 

There was also a desk with a computer and other gaming items, but Hinata concluded that he most likely bought that because he often gets forced to play roblox with Chiaki. On the desk was also a framed photo of Naegi that seemed to have been taken from far away. It showed him smiling and talking with someone off focus but Hinata couldn't exactly tell since the whole photo was blurred except for Naegi. It was almost like a professional took the picture, but it didn’t look like Naegi was posing or anything. Komaeda being the creep he is, probably took the picture without Naegi even knowing. There were some empty rooms as well, but nothing else besides the office space peaked his interest. 

The second floor was more boring than standing in a line at Disneyland. There were two more empty rooms with a laundry room and a bathroom. There was a single guest room that was actually furnished with a bed and all, but that was really it. Komaeda basically wasted his money on this big house for no reason at all! The third floor was the floor Hinata was mainly familiar with, but only Komaeda’s room, the bathroom at the end of the hall, and the other furnished quest room. Just like the previous floor there were two other rooms, but Hinata had no interest in them before. Besides they were locked so he easily brushed over them.

Komaeda’s room wasn't as clean as the rest of his house, but it was still quite neat. For his own room it didn’t seem very personalized. There was a large bed and a nightstand, but there wasn’t much inside the drawers of the nightstand. There was a tv across his bed along with a walk in closet to the left. Opening Komaeda's closet, Hinata found nothing except clothes. Wait no. There was something in the back.

There was a small hidden door that Hinata almost completely missed. It wasn't locked or anything, but it looked like it either led to one of the locked rooms or a new room altogether. Hinata took a deep breath and crawled inside.

The little hallway was decorated with fairy lights which was pretty cool, but Hinata still felt weird in some way. He could see that the end was glowing an inviting yellow color but honestly it only made it creepier. Was it just him or was it getting warmer the farther he went.

Crawling into a small room, Hinata was greeted by many candles on a large table. The walls of the small dark room were covered from head to toe with pictures of Naegi. Ones of him at school, ones of him sitting outside, ones of him eating at a restaurant, all of them were plastered on the walls. The creepiest ones were the ones that were taken inside Naegi's own home. Ones of him sleeping, ones of him showering, even ones of him doing quite lewd acts while believing he was alone. Hinata wanted to walk right out of that room, but he decided to still investigate the table.

There were more professional looking photos of Naegi that were framed and displayed at the back of the table. The table also included a toothbrush, a half eaten piece of toast in a sealed box, a few four leaf clovers, a piece of already chewed bubble gum, and a green pen.

Hinata also noticed Naegi's hoodie tossed in the corner, but immediately regretted ever looking at it. He originally went to pick it up, but was horrified when he saw dried white stains that coated the hoodie in many different spots. Hinata backed away from the hoodie quickly as he tried to forget what he saw. It was time for him to get out of here.

Crawling out of the room, Hinata began to feel as though the house suddenly became a lot creepier. He couldn't find Komaeda or Naegi and it was already getting dark. With what he saw he concluded that there was definitely something going on and Naegi was the victim.

Hinata debated on whether to go out the front door or the window again but he had no way to lock the front door after getting out so the window was his only option. Sticking one leg through, Hinata tried his best to work his way back out and actually succeeded way better than the first time. He quickly closed the window from the outside and then started his long run back home. He didn't feel like running, but for some reason he was terrified of Komaeda's house at this point. He ran to his house and quickly locked his door.

Hinata fell hard onto his bed as he tried to clear his mind for a bit. He just wanted sleep. But what if Naegi's in danger? It felt wrong to just sleep and forget about it. Komaeda's just the worst.

Slowly but surely Hinata fell into a light sleep that surely wouldn't be interrupted now. You know, except it was. By his stupid phone ringing.

"I swear if scam likely is calling me I'm actually going to murder someone.."

Hinata took his phone and looked at the name of the caller. He stared for about five seconds before quickly picking up. It was Komaeda. Komaeda was calling.

"What do you want? I was going to sleep you know."

"Oh, um, hello! Are you Hajime Hinata by any chance?"


	10. Confused Are You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The phone call leads to something unexpected, Hinata still with no answers and Komaeda with a lovely plan.
> 
> ~AN: Hey there, just wanted to say I'm back. December was a wild ride and I didn't get a chapter out but fear not because I have a small surprise chapter coming soon! Not really a surprise now huh? Anyway, happy new year and i hope 2021 isn't as shitty as 2020 :) ~

"Yes I'm Hajime Hinata, who else could it be dipshit?"

"Wonderful! I'm so glad I got in touch with you!!" 

Okay so maybe the aggressive opening wasn't that necessary. This wasn't Komaeda. "Naegi? Makoto Naegi?! Is it really you? Oh- excuse my rudeness I didn't expect you to pick up the phone! Why.. Why are you calling from Nagito's phone? Are you okay?!"

Hinata heard a simple giggle from the other end. "You can calm down Hinata-kun, I'm doing perfectly fine! I appreciate your concern though." Hinata could practically feel Naegi's reassuring smile through the phone. "I've been trying to reach you for a while but.. Funny story actually, I may or may not have accidentally dropped my phone off a cliff when I tried to get a picture of the pretty sunset! Haha.. How unlucky can I get? That's why I called from Nagito's phone. I have something important to ask of you."

Hinata had so many questions. Where is he? Why hasn't he come to school in so long? What about his friends?

"Do you think you could skip school tomorrow?"

"Skip tomorrow? Why?"

Naegi paused for a second, almost like he was thinking of the correct thing to say. "Tomorrow. We'll meet. Me, you, and Nagito. He'll send you the address later so no need to worry about where. He wants me to meet you! Plus you two can talk about whatever it is you need to. Isn't that exciting?"

Meet.. Him and Naegi? Meeting? That.. "That doesn't make any sense. Naegi, we've met before."

"Oh! We have! Sorry, my wording was weird. But that's not important. What is important is that you can not, under any circumstances, tell anyone anything. Just not go to school and go to the place. Okay? I don't know where we'll go because Nagito said it's a surprise.. But I'm really excited! I want to see you so please don't say no and go to school. Plus it's only one day of school and I'm sure everything will be okay if you skip just one day."

Naegi seemed happy to meet up with Hinata. "Okay.. But promise me you're not in danger. Nagito hasn't done anything weird right? Anything… creepy?"

"Nope. Absolutely nothing, in fact he's far from creepy! He's really sweet and his smile is extremely pretty. He's extremely pretty in general. Why'd you ask?"

"No reason… Naegi, I want you to tell me something. Where are you? Where have you been? And, why did you leave?"

Naegi was silent for a few seconds. "No questions. He doesn't want to give you any answers until tomorrow and I gotta stick to my word! Sorry about that, but I promise he'll tell you everything once we meet up okay? I'm gonna go now, I'm tired. Would you like to speak to Nagito before I go? I could hand him the phone if you want." 

Did Hinata want to talk with Komaeda? He'd just get angry at him.. Whatever. "Sure, give the phone to that creep. Oh, Naegi, don't trust him alright? He's a bad person. Plus he's dangerous, so stay out of trouble before he does something that'll hurt you." Naegi sighed a little and murmured something under his breath. Then Hinata sat in silence as he patiently waited for Komaeda to take the phone.

"Hello Hajime! I didn't think Naegi-kun would call you so late. What's the matter now?" His stupid voice sounded so calm. Like he knows everything yet nothing at the same time. "What did you do to him?"

"Aggressive much? I'm not telling you anything with an attitude like that."

That stubborn little- "I'm not being aggressive! You're being a creep!! There's something off about Naegi and I know you did it!"

Komaeda dramatically sighed. "Hajime you're so annoying. Geez sometimes I want to kill you. You'll get all your stupid answers tomorrow okay? I'll send you the address, be there. If you're even one second late I'll turn right back around and take Naegi home. If you tell anyone you won't be the only person in the hospital, or better yet, dead. Okay? I'm gonna hang up now, it's your fault Makoto's in danger~"

"Danger?! He said you didn't do anything to him!! I'll go okay? Don't fucking hurt him, I swear you're so irrational!"

"Hanging up now. Keep yelling at your phone, I don't want to listen to you."

That was it. Komaeda hung up, Hinata remained mad, and Naegi slept peacefully not knowing what he was involved in. All he knew was that he was going to go outside for the first time and meet a new friend. 

The next morning came and Hinata was exhausted. He turned off his alarm in annoyance and checked his phone. Komaeda had texted him the address they were meeting at.

Hinata googled the address to make sure it wasn't anywhere suspicious, and came to find out it was probably the least suspicious place he could think of. "Is this guy joking?"

Grabbing his house keys and a few other simple items, Hinata made his way to the train station.

"Do you think I'll be alright? I've never.. Gone out before." Naegi was hesitating for the first time since he found out they were going somewhere. "You'll be completely fine. I've made extra sure to keep you all wrapped up and safe from the sun like an adorable little baby! There's nothing to worry about, and if you feel light headed at any time we can take a break okay?"

Komaeda always had this charm to him that made all of Naegi's worries wash away. "You're right, I can totally do this!"

Naegi sat in the back of the car while Komaeda drove. Komaeda didn't exactly want Naegi looking at his surroundings so he settled on blindfolding him so when they got there he would be super surprised! Naegi agreed and saw nothing wrong with it.

Their car ride wasn't too long, but certainly not short. They mostly listened to music, Naegi didn't like anything specific so Komaeda's music taste was enjoyable. At times Naegi would ask if they were there yet.

When they finally did arrive, Komaeda parked near the building and opened the back door for Naegi. "We're here!"

Naegi excitedly clapped his hands, eager to see where they were. Komaeda carefully took off the blindfold and smiled at Naegi. "It's so bright out here! And hot, really hot!!" Naegi said as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight. He then took a look at what was in front of him, but it just looked like a plain old building.

Taking another good look around, Naegi felt uneasy at the sheer amount of people. He had never seen so many people in the same vicinity, even if it was really only a few to others. 

He slightly clung to Komaeda's shirt as he shuffled out of the car. He didn't feel like looking at any other person, maybe they'd feel his hope and recognize him and try to steal him away! He couldn't have that, he had a mission to accomplish! "Are you okay? You're a little shaky.."

"Yeah I'm doing great! Just.. does the surprise place have people in it?" Komaeda had a warm smile on his face as he wrapped his bony arms around the smaller male. "Don't worry, I've made sure that nobody will scare you. It'll just be us and the person that works there. Is that okay darling?"

Naegi swallowed his anxiousness and plastered a big smile on his face. "Of course it is! Is Hinata-kun here yet?" The excitement returned to Naegi. Don't get him wrong he absolutely loved Komaeda and living alone with just the two of them, but he was still eager to meet someone new. "He should be arriving shortly. Follow me."

The two walked together, Naegi tightly gripping Komaeda's arm and Komaeda keeping an eye out for Hinata. It was exactly two minutes before he would be considered late. 

"There he is." Komaeda said with a smile. Hinata had just rounded the corner and started to walk towards the two. Each one of his steps made Naegi's heart fill with excitement. He put on a brave face and let Komaeda speak to him first.

"You were almost late Hajime! Thank goodness you got here on time, Makoto has been dying to see you don't you know." With Hinata's attention now on Naegi, he opened his mouth to question him.

Komaeda interrupted him by saying, "Before we talk how about we go somewhere more private? Follow me!"

He led the three to a cute shop a little further down the street. "A cat café." Hinata said in judgement. "You took us to a cat café." 

"I've never been to a cat café before!" Naegi said as he smiled up at Komaeda. "You haven't been to a lot of places sunshine. I hope you like it here, I bought out the entire thing for a few hours so it can just be us and the cats."

Walking in, Naegi was hit with the smell of vanilla. There weren't too many cats around if he was being honest. A woman in a pretty dress walked up to them with a nice smile. Did she have cat ears on? Naegi thought they looked very cool.

"Welcome Sir Komaeda, wonderful to see you again. Oh, you brought your boyfriend this time!" She faced Naegi in delight. "You really are as adorable as he said! You know, I was so excited to meet you. Don't worry about any people coming here, it'll just be me, the chef in the back, and the adorable cats roaming around. You can sit wherever you like! I'll shut the curtains, we can't have you getting hurt now can we?"

Hinata was confused to say the least. Did she say that Naegi and Komaeda were boyfriends? And what, was nobody else allowed to enter the building? Was there only this one worker? Why was she shutting the curtains??

Naegi took both Komaeda and Hinata's hands and led them to a table away from the windows and sunlight. There was a white cat sitting on one of the chairs, so Komaeda picked them up and offered to give the cat to Naegi. "I don't know how to hold cats.."

"Ah, that's okay! You can sit down and I'll put the cat in your lap. How about that?" Naegi quickly went to sit down and eagerly took the cat into his lap. Komaeda sat next to him and urged Hinata to sit across from the two. "Does this cat have a name?"

The waiter who followed them to their table nodded. "That one's name is Shiro. Let me know if you would like to learn the other cats' names as well!" Komaeda shot the waiter an odd look, most likely telling her to go away now. She left without another word.

Hinata sighed aggressively as he stared at the cat. "So why did you bring me here? School is much more important than a cat café you know."

He had expected Komaeda to answer his question, but he was surprised when Naegi spoke up. "Oh, Nagito wanted us to meet. You know, talk and stuff. I haven't seen another person in such a long time, and I kind of want a friend. Not saying Nagito's company isn't enough for me, I absolutely love him! I just wanted to kind of catch up with you, see how you're doing."

Naegi's words only confused Hinata more. There was this whole thing with Naegi saying he was on a trip, but he's with Komaeda and he's been going to school so where has Naegi been? He couldn't have gone anywhere far right? Is Komaeda the only person he has interacted with for who knows how long?

Komaeda noticed the confusion in Hinata's face and smiled. He surely had to know something was wrong, now all that's left to do is to make sure word doesn't spread. Luckily he had a great plan.


	11. Mini Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares are the worst.
> 
> AN: This is a snippet of the future, Hajime will return next chapter with the normal storyline.

Naegi was crying. There he was, screaming in his sleep. Komaeda would have woken him up, but he enjoyed seeing Naegi squirm around. He wondered what he was dreaming about. It didn't matter though, seeing him in despair made Komaeda excited for the hope that would soon come from comforting him.

Naegi didn't speak so to say, he just kept on squirming with an occasional shriek. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks like beautiful waterfalls.

Komaeda bent down and tasted the boy's tears. His body shook from pleasure, the tears tasting like hope. Ah, everything about Naegi was so hopeful. Even in such despair Komaeda can feel the growing hope that it's just a dream. That he'd wake up soon and see that he's not in danger. How truly amazing is that?

"S-Stop! I d-don't want to! Nagito get them away from me!!" Oh? He hasn't heard him say anything in a while.. Naegi was dreaming of him, but why? Was he scared of the older boy? No, that can't be it can it? What nightmare did he have exactly? Komaeda was dying to know.

He's suffered long enough. "Makoto.. Sunshine wake up please." Komaeda whispered into Naegi's ear, lightly shaking him awake.

Naegi's eyes fluttered open to see Komaeda smiling sweetly. He instinctively flinched away before looking around and realized it was all a dream. The sigh of relief came with a waterfall of tears. Naegi looked up at Komaeda and attempted to stop crying, but the tears only kept coming.

"Oh, don't cry baby. Don't cry, you're okay. I'm here with you. You're safe with me." Naegi fell into Komaeda's arms as the white haired boy began to comfort him. Laying his hand on the smaller boy's head, Komaeda began to play with his hair.

Naegi was shaking a bit as he held Komaeda close. "I-I'm sorry.." He said in a quiet tone. Komaeda smiled as he began to mess with the ahoge at the top of his boyfriend's head. "Don't be. I don't mind, I kind of expected some sort of backlash later on. Mind telling me what you were dreaming about?"

"Y-y-you killed them. I was there. I.. I saw you a-and you looked at me and you smiled b-but you scared me-" Naegi couldn't stop stuttering, his words going and stopping like a teenager learning how to drive. "I d-didn't mean to cry b-but the body looked gross! Blood was all over you, and you to-told me to come over to you but I really didn't want to s-so you went towards me, handed me the b-bloody knife and told me to st-stab them a few times but I didn't want to do that either!!" Naegi continued sobbing uncontrollably, the bleeding body still fresh in his mind.

Komaeda sighed. Was Naegi really scared of him? That was no good. That was never his intention. "It was just a nightmare Makoto.. I'd never do anything to hurt you okay? You know that my love. There's not a single thing to worry about.. I had to throw them off our trail, you understand that right? I never wanted to hurt anyone."

"I-I know.. Thank you Nagito. For protecting me against despair. I l-love you.."

"I love you too Makoto. They're long gone now, they won't hurt you ever again." 

_Your hope is so bright. I did this for us. For our precious hope that just keeps on giving. They didn't need their life anyway, they were useless. I needed to get them away. I need them to focus on something else. Like the weird murders that can't possibly tie to me. Like the missing people cases rising. I'm a missing person too, how can they suspect me if they think I'm dead?_


End file.
